I have an uncle who is the CEO of a parts manufacturer for the GE engines on the MAX model and saw him for a beer in LA this past week. He's very nervous about the near-term impact of this grounding on their business as that order flow is a pretty big chunk of what's on the run right now. I hadn't realized that the reason the engines moved farther out on the wings was just for fuel efficiency. Really hoping for his sake that they get this resolved soon.

From United Airlines Fleet Updates [2019 Edition] thread:

Link to post.

Wonder how many SW MAX birds are @ HOU? That might be a reason UA is consolidating there. Centralizing the birds for the roll out of the software fix? That & probably plenty of parking space.

UA 706 OGG-LAX shows as 739MAX on initial status page, but seat map shows the actual plane being used. Of course, I'm flying OGG-SFO about an hour later on a 777HD in coach. OGG-SFO got the love a couple of days ago :( I already looked at possibility of SDC, but no same-day connection available to final destination.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d98e909b99.jpg

10 across Y in a 737 only happens if King Kong steps on the fuselage, or Doug Parker is able to make his dreams come true. Otherwise, that looks like a 777-300ER substitution to me.

It's a 772, but yeah.

There may be a slight surplus of WBs now, given they are about to start new flying and revised WB fleet assignments (including the newly-delivered 787-10s) as of March 30. They can also hold off sending WBs for Polaris conversion for a bit to keep extra frames around.

Looking for a map of routes for the 737-MAX.

I don't believe any such map exists. Although UA originally launched them on a limited number of routes, they backed off of that plan and distributed them throughout their network on an ad hoc basis. A given flight could be a MAX one day and a 739 the next.

And, of course, since the MAX planes are grounded, right now the map would be empty. :)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xa73eiyxwe...09.05.pdf?dl=0

That might help....

Flawed analysis, failed oversight: How Boeing and FAA certified the suspect 737 MAX f
 

http://www.seattletimes.com/business...lion-air-crash

Federal Aviation Administration managers pushed its engineers to delegate wide responsibility for assessing the safety of the 737 MAX to Boeing itself.

Makes you wonder how to trust the FAA to do their jobs (safety of their passengers) when they were primarily focused on helping Boeing meet its deadlines. This is not good for the future of MAX.

There was an NPR radio article earlier this week that provided some interesting insight on the cross pollination of the FAA and Boeing, and the viewpoint within the FAA that Boeing was their customer. The article stressed the good that come from such relationships such as more likely to have an open and honest dialog on some issues.

We, the people, are the government that funds the FAA to provide oversight of the industry to protect the public. I would have thought the customers of the FAA were the flying public not the OEMs and airlines.

The DER system is standard throughout industry and the western world (e.g. DOA for EASA). Disappointed to see this piece out of that paper.